Baker, Lucy Margaret, 1836-1909

Person

Baker, Lucy Margaret, 1836-1909

1836-1909

Lucy Margaret Baker was born at Summertown, Glengarry County, Ontario in 1836. Lucy was young when her mother passed away and she was adopted by her father's sister, Mrs. Buchanan of Dundee, Quebec. She was educated in Dundee, Quebec and Fort Covington, NY. She returned to Dundee to teach and became involved in missionary and Sunday school work in Zion Presbyterian church, pastured by Rev. Donald Ross. Baker also taught in New Orleans during the American Civil War, and later in Lancaster, ON. Her old pastor, Rev. Ross, was heading the school in Lancaster at the time. In 1878, Ross was appointed by the Home Mission Board of the Presbyterian church to go to Prince Albert. The Board asked Baker to accompany Mr. and Mrs. Ross to Prince Albert to teach at the day school started by Rev. James Nisbet.

Baker became the first female missionary of the Presbyterian Church to the Indians of the North-West. She taught at the mission day school until 1885, and then taught at the newly-built Presbyterian high school in Prince Albert for several years. She then moved to teach on the Makoce Waste reserve, a reserve of Sioux Indians from the United States who had taken refuge in Canada in the 1860's. She continued to teach at the reserve until 1905, when she retired due to failing health. She died on May 30, 1909 in Montreal and she was buried in the Zion Presbyterian churchyard in Dundee, Quebec.

A high school in Prince Albert is named after Lucy M. Baker.

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Authority record created on 2008-06-03. Approved 2012-03-06. Last modified on 2017-11-29.

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