Sara Jeannette Duncan

Sara Jeannette Duncan was born in December 1861 in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Her mother and father had emigrated from Ulster and Scotland respectively. Charles Duncan ran a prosperous dry-goods business, and the large family enjoyed a comfortable existence. Duncan, educated at local schools and in Toronto, trained to become a teacher, but always wanted to be a writer. In 1880, when her first article appeared in The Canada Monthly, her journalistic career was launched. Her coverage of the 1884 New Orleans Cotton Exposition led to jobs on the Washington Post (1885-6), the Toronto Globe (1886-7) and the Montreal Star (1887-8). Duncan was the first woman to hold an editorial position on a major Canadian newspape