Mary Electa Adams was born in Westbury Twp., Quebec on Nov. 10, 1823 to father, Rufus Adams and mother, Maria Hubbard. When the young Mary was two years old, her family moved to Acton in Ontario. Until 1840 her education was given by her parents. In that year she moved to Montpelier, VT to commence her formal education but transferred to the Cobourg Ladies' Seminary in Upper Canada (Ontario) the following year, where she earned her diploma of mistress of liberal arts, staying there until 1847 as a teacher. In that year, she moved to Toronto when the school moved there to be renamed the Adelaide Academy, but left to take up the position of lady principal at Picton Academy the next year.
In 1850 she left that position on the grounds of ill health, and moved to Michigan to become a school administrator. In 1854 she moved to Sackville, New Brunswick to take up the position of chief perceptress, the highest administrative role available to a woman in her school. Although not named as such, Adams was effectively the principal of the 'female branch' of her school, the Wesleyan Academy. She believed that women needed and deserved a rigorous academic program and it was at Wesleyan Academy that she put these principles into place.
With the death of her father in May 1856, Adams considered resigning from her position as chief perceptress but her belief in "the cause of female education" kept her from doing so until 1857, when she returned home to care for her elderly mother for four years. In 1861 she returned to school administration becoming the founding principal of the Wesleyan Female College in Hamilton. Although her school faced financial problems in its early years, and she was forced to teach in a poorly-converted hotel building, Adams successfully transformed the college into a well-regarded academic institution, with a newspaper reporting her to the "life of the institution" in June 1863.
In 1867 her mother died and she left the Wesleyan Female College to travel for two years in Italy with her sister and co-worker, Augusta Minerva Adams. Upon her return home, she settled in Cobourg, Ontario, opening her own Brookhurst Academy in 1872. Her intention when founding the college was to enroll only university-bound students, to keep the school exclusively for students in the elite academic class. Many Brookhurst students took classes at the nearby Victoria College and in 1877 the first diploma of mistress of English Literature was awarded jointly by the two schools. In 1880, financial problems forced Brookhurst Academy to close.
Following her time at Brookhurst, Adams moved to Ontario Ladies' College to become its lady principal. However she did not appreciate having to work at a school she regarded to be Brookhurst's major competitor and engaged in some conflict with her superior.
In 1892, at nearly 70 years of age, she retired from teaching and spent her remaining years establishing cattle ranches in Morley, Alberta and on the nearby Red Deer River with her sister, Augusta, and nephew Lucius Quincy Coleman.
On Nov. 5, 1898 she died while visiting relatives in Toronto. She was unmarried.
Adams' work furthered the cause of women's education in British North America and although she did not have students graduating with full bachelor's degrees while lady principal at her various places of employment, her teaching methods were modeled by others and have had a profound impact on gender equality in education.
At the end of her life, her poems were collected by her niece, poet Helena Jane Coleman (1860-1953), for private publication.
In 2004 Mary Electa Adams was designated a PERSON OF NATIONAL HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE by the Government of Canada.
In 1850 she left that position on the grounds of ill health, and moved to Michigan to become a school administrator. In 1854 she moved to Sackville, New Brunswick to take up the position of chief perceptress, the highest administrative role available to a woman in her school. Although not named as such, Adams was effectively the principal of the 'female branch' of her school, the Wesleyan Academy. She believed that women needed and deserved a rigorous academic program and it was at Wesleyan Academy that she put these principles into place.
With the death of her father in May 1856, Adams considered resigning from her position as chief perceptress but her belief in "the cause of female education" kept her from doing so until 1857, when she returned home to care for her elderly mother for four years. In 1861 she returned to school administration becoming the founding principal of the Wesleyan Female College in Hamilton. Although her school faced financial problems in its early years, and she was forced to teach in a poorly-converted hotel building, Adams successfully transformed the college into a well-regarded academic institution, with a newspaper reporting her to the "life of the institution" in June 1863.
In 1867 her mother died and she left the Wesleyan Female College to travel for two years in Italy with her sister and co-worker, Augusta Minerva Adams. Upon her return home, she settled in Cobourg, Ontario, opening her own Brookhurst Academy in 1872. Her intention when founding the college was to enroll only university-bound students, to keep the school exclusively for students in the elite academic class. Many Brookhurst students took classes at the nearby Victoria College and in 1877 the first diploma of mistress of English Literature was awarded jointly by the two schools. In 1880, financial problems forced Brookhurst Academy to close.
Following her time at Brookhurst, Adams moved to Ontario Ladies' College to become its lady principal. However she did not appreciate having to work at a school she regarded to be Brookhurst's major competitor and engaged in some conflict with her superior.
In 1892, at nearly 70 years of age, she retired from teaching and spent her remaining years establishing cattle ranches in Morley, Alberta and on the nearby Red Deer River with her sister, Augusta, and nephew Lucius Quincy Coleman.
On Nov. 5, 1898 she died while visiting relatives in Toronto. She was unmarried.
Adams' work furthered the cause of women's education in British North America and although she did not have students graduating with full bachelor's degrees while lady principal at her various places of employment, her teaching methods were modeled by others and have had a profound impact on gender equality in education.
At the end of her life, her poems were collected by her niece, poet Helena Jane Coleman (1860-1953), for private publication.
In 2004 Mary Electa Adams was designated a PERSON OF NATIONAL HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE by the Government of Canada.
Mary Electa Adams was born in Westbury Twp., Quebec on Nov. 10, 1823 to father, Rufus Adams and mother, Maria Hubbard. When the young Mary was two years old, her family moved to Acton in Ontario. Until 1840 her education was given by her parents. In that year she moved to Montpelier, VT to commence her formal education but transferred to the Cobourg Ladies' Seminary in Upper Canada (Ontario) the following year, where she earned her diploma of mistress of liberal arts, staying there until 1847 as a teacher. In that year, she moved to Toronto when the school moved there to be renamed the Adelaide Academy, but left to take up the position of lady principal at Picton Academy the next year.
In 1850 she left that position on the grounds of ill health, and moved to Michigan to become a school administrator. In 1854 she moved to Sackville, New Brunswick to take up the position of chief perceptress, the highest administrative role available to a woman in her school. Although not named as such, Adams was effectively the principal of the 'female branch' of her school, the Wesleyan Academy. She believed that women needed and deserved a rigorous academic program and it was at Wesleyan Academy that she put these principles into place.
With the death of her father in May 1856, Adams considered resigning from her position as chief perceptress but her belief in "the cause of female education" kept her from doing so until 1857, when she returned home to care for her elderly mother for four years. In 1861 she returned to school administration becoming the founding principal of the Wesleyan Female College in Hamilton. Although her school faced financial problems in its early years, and she was forced to teach in a poorly-converted hotel building, Adams successfully transformed the college into a well-regarded academic institution, with a newspaper reporting her to the "life of the institution" in June 1863.
In 1867 her mother died and she left the Wesleyan Female College to travel for two years in Italy with her sister and co-worker, Augusta Minerva Adams. Upon her return home, she settled in Cobourg, Ontario, opening her own Brookhurst Academy in 1872. Her intention when founding the college was to enroll only university-bound students, to keep the school exclusively for students in the elite academic class. Many Brookhurst students took classes at the nearby Victoria College and in 1877 the first diploma of mistress of English Literature was awarded jointly by the two schools. In 1880, financial problems forced Brookhurst Academy to close.
Following her time at Brookhurst, Adams moved to Ontario Ladies' College to become its lady principal. However she did not appreciate having to work at a school she regarded to be Brookhurst's major competitor and engaged in some conflict with her superior.
In 1892, at nearly 70 years of age, she retired from teaching and spent her remaining years establishing cattle ranches in Morley, Alberta and on the nearby Red Deer River with her sister, Augusta, and nephew Lucius Quincy Coleman.
On Nov. 5, 1898 she died while visiting relatives in Toronto. She was unmarried.
Adams' work furthered the cause of women's education in British North America and although she did not have students graduating with full bachelor's degrees while lady principal at her various places of employment, her teaching methods were modeled by others and have had a profound impact on gender equality in education.
At the end of her life, her poems were collected by her niece, poet Helena Jane Coleman (1860-1953), for private publication.
In 2004 Mary Electa Adams was designated a PERSON OF NATIONAL HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE by the Government of Canada.
In 1850 she left that position on the grounds of ill health, and moved to Michigan to become a school administrator. In 1854 she moved to Sackville, New Brunswick to take up the position of chief perceptress, the highest administrative role available to a woman in her school. Although not named as such, Adams was effectively the principal of the 'female branch' of her school, the Wesleyan Academy. She believed that women needed and deserved a rigorous academic program and it was at Wesleyan Academy that she put these principles into place.
With the death of her father in May 1856, Adams considered resigning from her position as chief perceptress but her belief in "the cause of female education" kept her from doing so until 1857, when she returned home to care for her elderly mother for four years. In 1861 she returned to school administration becoming the founding principal of the Wesleyan Female College in Hamilton. Although her school faced financial problems in its early years, and she was forced to teach in a poorly-converted hotel building, Adams successfully transformed the college into a well-regarded academic institution, with a newspaper reporting her to the "life of the institution" in June 1863.
In 1867 her mother died and she left the Wesleyan Female College to travel for two years in Italy with her sister and co-worker, Augusta Minerva Adams. Upon her return home, she settled in Cobourg, Ontario, opening her own Brookhurst Academy in 1872. Her intention when founding the college was to enroll only university-bound students, to keep the school exclusively for students in the elite academic class. Many Brookhurst students took classes at the nearby Victoria College and in 1877 the first diploma of mistress of English Literature was awarded jointly by the two schools. In 1880, financial problems forced Brookhurst Academy to close.
Following her time at Brookhurst, Adams moved to Ontario Ladies' College to become its lady principal. However she did not appreciate having to work at a school she regarded to be Brookhurst's major competitor and engaged in some conflict with her superior.
In 1892, at nearly 70 years of age, she retired from teaching and spent her remaining years establishing cattle ranches in Morley, Alberta and on the nearby Red Deer River with her sister, Augusta, and nephew Lucius Quincy Coleman.
On Nov. 5, 1898 she died while visiting relatives in Toronto. She was unmarried.
Adams' work furthered the cause of women's education in British North America and although she did not have students graduating with full bachelor's degrees while lady principal at her various places of employment, her teaching methods were modeled by others and have had a profound impact on gender equality in education.
At the end of her life, her poems were collected by her niece, poet Helena Jane Coleman (1860-1953), for private publication.
In 2004 Mary Electa Adams was designated a PERSON OF NATIONAL HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE by the Government of Canada.
Inscription
Rev. Lucius R. ADAMS / died Aug. 24, 1854 / aged 28 y'rs / Emeline M. ADAMS / wife of / Rev. Francis COLEMAN / died June 23, 1858 / aged 36 y'rs / Rufus ADAMS / die May 6, 1856 / aged 72 y'rs / Maria HUBBARD / wife of / Rufus ADAMS / died Jan. 22, 1867 / aged 72 y'rs / Clarissa E. ADAMS / died Dec. 1, 1833 / aged 1 year / John Q. ADAMS / died Mar. 6, 1849 / aged 21 y'rs / Mary Electa ADAMS / died Nov. 5, 1898 / aged 75 years / Augusta M. ADAMS / died May 20, 1912 / aged 82 years
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