Ella Cora Hind

Ella Cora Hind (September 18, 1861 – October 6, 1942) was Western Canada's first female journalist and a women's rights activist.

Early life

Hind was born in Toronto on September 18, 1861 to Edwin Hind and Jane Carroll. She and older brothers, Joseph and George, lost their parents at a young age. Hind was only two years old when she lost her mother, and five years old when her father died. After the death of her mother, the children moved to Artimisea, Grey County to live with their paternal grandfather, Joseph Hind, and aunt, Alice.

After losing her parents Hind and her grandfather became very close. He grandfather taught her about farming, horses, and cattle. These were helpful tools that would help her in the future. Living with her grandfather they lived off livestock and grain. This was hard, because growing livestock some years were better than others. Cora also grew up several miles away from school. This delayed her education until she was eleven, so her aunt Alice taught her at home until 1872 when they built a school on her grandfather’s land. Her family finally relocated to Flesherton, Ontario where Cora finished her primary education. She attended high school at the Collegiate Institute of Orillia and lived, during this period, with her uncle, George Hind. This is where she wrote her third class teacher examination.

Career

After high school Cora moved with her Aunt Alice and Cousins Jean and Jacques out west, because her cousins told her teachers were needed in Manitoba. They arrived in Winnipeg in 1882. Hind’s Aunt ran a dressing shop to earn enough to live, but a few weeks later Cora received a letter saying that she failed her algebra part of the teacher’s exam, which stated that her credentials were inadequate. This did not affect her because she had dreams of becoming a journalist.

Hind approached the editor of the Manitoba Free Press, W.F. Luxton, about a job, using a with letter of introduction from her uncle, George, who was a friend of Luxton's. Luxton turned her down indicating that a newsroom was no place for a woman with no journalism experience. A few months later Hind submitted an article to Luxton. He accepted the letter, but chose not to acknowledge her as an author. This situation forced her into becoming a typist. “She worked there until 1893, when she opened her own business as a stenographer .” Ella became the first public typewriter in Manitoba.

Now that Ella Cora Hinds was doing well for herself, she and her Aunt Alice joined The Women’s Christian Temperance Union. Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is the oldest continuing non-sectarian women's organization worldwide. Founded in Evanston, Illinois in 1873, the group spearheaded the crusade for prohibition. Cora also linked up with Dr. Amelia Yeomans, because she wanted women to have rights to vote. They both formed Manitoba Equal Suffrage Club. Their motto was “Peace on earth, good will towards men." Cora Hind and Dr. Yeomans worked hard to improve the lives of women and the poor, Cora than became a member of The Winnipeg Chapter of Canadian Women's Press Club.

Along with all of the duties that Ella had dedicated herself she still had a strong interest in farming. Living in Winnipeg and knowing about the grain trade center of the west, Cora finally became a regular reporter and the commercial and agricultural editor of the Manitoba Free Press. J. W. Dafoe was the editor of the paper helped Cora become a famous for her accurate analysis of crop yields, and other livestock. Between 1935 and 1937, Hind travelled to 27 wheat producing countries capturing her experiences, including comments on social conditions and historical associations, in a series of letters to the Winnipeg Free Press. A selection of these letters were released by popular demand in her 1937 book Seeing for myself. The book was so successful that a second book, My travels and findings (1939), was two years later featuring selections from her personal papers.

Cora Hind then formed the Political Equality League with Lillian Beynon Thomas and Nellie McClung in 1912. Their campaign for women’s voting rights later were granted in 1916. After all her successful movements in life she received many honors from The Western Canada Livestock Union, Wool Grower's of Manitoba, and Canadian Society of Technical Agriculturists. The University of Manitoba also presented her with an honorary LLD degree in 1935.

Death

Hind died on October 6, 1942 and trading at the Winnipeg Grain Exchange was halted for two minutes in her memory. The United Grain Growers created the Cora Hind Fellowship for research in agriculture, and the Free Press created the Cora Hind Scholarship in home economics.

• The story of the big ditch. [Alberta?]. 1912. Retrieved 14 December 2016. 
• Seeing for myself: agricultural conditions around the world. Toronto: MacMillan Co. of Canada. 1937. OCLC 7382871. 
• My travels and findings. Toronto: Macmillan. 1939. OCLC 65668571.