Author: FLECK, Catherine
Biography:
FLECK, Catherine (b 1782)
In Montreal in 1833 appeared a small volume of Poems on Various Subjects in which a woman recently widowed in the cholera epidemic appealed for supporters on behalf of herself and her children. A second edition was published in 1835. There is only internal evidence to witness to her distress, her piety, and her resignation; the final poem, in praise of a “good cup of tea,” hints also at a sense of humour. She names her late husband as “John.” In the absence of better documentation, bibliographers have speculated that “Widow Fleck” might be a pseudonym, possibly for Mrs. John Fleming--but the author John Fleming (1786-1832) died in Montreal of cholera without ever having married. The author’s appeal is dated from New Glasgow [Lower Canada], a community northeast of Montreal. There are very few records of her life but there is no reason to question her identity. She was the daughter of Alexander and Grizel Kerr, born and baptised as Katherine (but she later used Catherine) in Scotland on 2 Jun. 1782. She emigrated to Canada about 1822 with her husband John Fleck and three children born in Scotland between 1818 and 1821; they settled in Terrebonne, Lower Canada, but also owned property in New Glasgow. They had twin girls born there in Jan. 1827. John Fleck most probably died in 1832; no reliable record has been found, however, of their marriage or of the death of either of them. Catherine Kerr appears in the Censuses of 1851 (registered as Baptist) and 1861 still as resident in Terrebonne and head of a household that includes their eldest son Zachariah Fleck (1818-81). (ancestry.com 10 Jan. 2023; findmypast.com 10 Jan. 2023; Scotland's People; DCB; contributions by AA) HJ
Other Names:
- Widow Fleck