Susanna Moodie (1803-1885), a Canadian poet, novelist, and essayist, is chiefly remembered for her classic account of the lives of early settlers in what is now the province of Ontario: "Roughing It in the Bush."

Susanna Strickland was born in Bungay, Suffolk, England. She married J. W. D. Moodie, an English army officer, and in 1832 they emigrated to Upper Canada (now Ontario) and settled first on a farm near Cobourg. In 1834 they moved to a backwoods area in Douro Township and cleared a farm from the wilderness. Capt. Moodie took part in suppressing the abortive Rebellion of 1837, led by William Lyon Mackenzie, and was shortly thereafter appointed sheriff of Hastings County. From that time on, the family lived in Belleville, where Mrs. Moodie did most of her writing. She died in Toronto.

Mrs. Moodie, several of whose sisters were also writers, had begun to write in England. Between...