About Addie and the Homestead:
Adelaide Hunter Hoodless is one Canada’s most famous women, a powerful voice in trying to educate women about their families. Adelaide was born on February 27, 1857 to Irish immigrants Jane and David. She was raised in humble beginnings on this isolated farm in Canada West.
Her public life began after becoming a wife and mother. Unfortunately, this was instigated by a tragic event: her fourth child, John, died at the age of 14 months. Adelaide was devastated and blamed herself for this tragedy, so she began to campaign to raise the level of education for girls and to put supports in place for women to safeguard their families.
Her legacy is reaches many corners of Canada. She is credited as a co-founder of the Women’s Institute, the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), the National Council of Women and the Victorian Order of Nurses (VON). She was also a powerful force behind the formation of three faculties of Household Science. She achieved a great deal of national recognition in her twenty years of public life. She died in 1910, one day short of her 53rd birthday.
