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Born digital.
Eaton’s father, Edward Henry Eaton, born in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England.
Eaton’s mother, Achuen Amoy (pictured in the etching above), born in
China, perhaps in/near Shanghai. As a young child, she is sold to
Chinese acrobat and knife-thrower Tuck Quy (Teh-Kwei) and tours China,
the United States, France, England, Scotland, and Ireland with the
Chinese Magicians
(also known as Chinese Jugglers
),
beginning in 1852.
The Chinese Magicians perform at Drury Lane (poster featured above). Achuen Amoy is rescued from her knife-throwing owner Tuck Quy in London’s East End by Christian missionaries just before he and his wife Wang Noo sail for China.
Edward Eaton’s father purchases a chemical manufacturing business.
Achuen Amoy is baptized Grace
in London and travels to China to
work as a missionary.
Edward Eaton and Achuen Amoy marry more formally at Shanghai’s Trinity Church, after being married onboard ship.
Winnifred’s brother Charles Edward (pictured above) is born in China. The Eatons return to England soon afterward, settling in Macclesfield.
Winnifred’s sister Edith Maude (who later writes under the pseudonym
Sui Sin Far
, pictured above) born on 15 March in
Macclesfield. Edward sails for New York City in May. His wife Grace and
the two children sail to New York from Liverpool in June aboard the
City of London
. Family settles in Jersey City and Edward
opens a drug and dye wholesale outfit on Pine Street in New York
City.
Winnifred’s sister Grace Helen (pictured above) born in Jersey City on 24 January.
Eatons sail back to England in February on the Denmark
and settle
in Bow/Poplar area of London. Winnifred’s sister Sarah (pictured above,
on right, with husband Karl Bosse and sister Rose) born.
Winnifred’s brother Ernest George born.
Winnifred’s sister Christiana Mary Agnes
(pictured above with her
children) born.
Eaton family sails from England back to North America via New York and settles in Montreal. Edward is listed in
Winnifred’s sister May Darling (pictured above), named after the Darling family who lived in the same neighbourhood, born.
Edward listed in
Winifred Lily born August 21, the eighth of fourteen children, two of
whom die in childhood. Baptized, with sisters Christiana Mary
Agnes
and May Darling, at Montreal’s American Presbyterian
Church as Lillie Winifred
, although she soon drops the
Lillie
and adds a second ‘n’ to Winifred (Birchall 5).
Family live at 101 rue d’Iberville, leased from J. Rolland. Edward working as a clerk.
Winnifred’s brother George born.
Winnifred’s brother Hubert born.
Winnifred’s sister Rose (pictured above) born. Eatons living at 42 rue Seaver, company housing for Hudon Mills workers.
Winnifred’s brother Lawrence born. United States government passes Chinese Exclusion Act limiting immigration to US. Winnifred’s father Edward stops working as clerk, allegedly to devote himself to art career. Family live at 97 rue d’Iberville near Ste. Catherine.
Winnifred’s father Edward Eaton listed in
artistliving at 104 rue Drolet at Roy. Winnifred’s sister Edith working in composing room of the
Winnifred’s brother Lawrence dies at age two, possibly of smallpox during the epidemic, and is buried in Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.
Winnifred’s sister Florence (pictured above, left) born. Canada passes the Chinese Immigration Act, levying a $50 head tax on each Chinese labourer entering the country.
Gilbert and Sullivan’s light opera
Eaton family listed as living at 488 boulevard St. Laurent. Winnifred’s sister Beryl (pictured above) born.
Winnifred’s brother Charles Edward marries Isabelle Carter at Montreal’s St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church.
Family living at 610 boulevard St. Laurent, leased from Napoleon Deschamp. Winnifred’s sister Grace Helen working as stenographer and typewriter in an office she rents in the Standard Life Building at 157 rue St. Jacques.
Winnifred stays in school until age fifteen, at which time she begins to work (possibly as an apprentice dressmaker). Family living at 180 avenue Cadieux.
Eaton family living at 619 rue St. Urbain, leased from Catharine Mitcheson, widow. Winnifred’s sister Grace Helen marries British immigrant journalist-editor Walter Blackburn Harte in Montreal on 20 April and moves to Boston where Harte has been appointed, three months earlier, Assistant Editor of
Winnifred’s sister Sarah advertises her services as an artist and art teacher in Montreal. Winnifred’s sister Christina Agnes marries Eloi Emmanuelle Perrault, a widower thirty years her senior and with two children, on October 13.
Eaton family living at 828 avenue St. Laurent. Winnifred’s sister Edith opens own stenography office.
Eaton family living at 83 rue de l’Arcade. Winnifred publishes her first serialized story in a Montreal magazine. Winnifred goes to Jamaica as general writer and reporter, covering legislative council meetings, stenography; her fare is paid by the
A poem
Barnstablein early April. Her father Edward is arrested in New York State in June for smuggling Chinese into the US and he is put in Plattsburgh, NY, prison; he and his accomplice escape and he returns to Montreal in August. Winnifred moves to Cincinnati, where her brother George lives, probably in October. Assumes Japanese persona as
Kitishima Taka Hasche, or
Kitishina, or
Tacki Hashia Yokohama-born girl whose pen name is
Onoto Watanna. In November, publishes her first Japanese-themed story,
Winnifred (pictured above) settles in Chicago, probably in May. Does stenographic work in the stockyards, probably for the soap department of Philip Armour and Company, and writes. In September, she claims to be heading to Alaska with the Woman’s Alaska Gold Club, a group with 150 members founded by Chicago patent lawyer Florence King, to pan for gold. Sister Edith returns to North America, probably to Montreal, from Jamaica in April or May.
Onoto Watanna’s work prompts notices in numerous literary publications including
Publishes short stories in
According to the 1900 Census (pictured above), Winnifred boards at 3105 Groveland Avenue in Chicago, a house owned by feminist Dr. Helen R. Kellogg. Meets and becomes close friends with Japanese poet Yone Noguchi, who visits Chicago for several weeks after living in California for seven years, where he met San Francisco bohemians including Gelett Burgess, Adeline Knapp, Blanche Partington, Ina Coolbrith, Edwin Markham, Joaquin Miller, and Charles Warren Stoddard. Noguchi uses Winnifred’s address as his Chicago mailing address. Winnifred publishes stories and non-fiction in
Winnifred moves to New York,where her sister Grace Helen works as a legal secretary. While writing and modeling for the Women’s Pages of the
Publishes another novel,
William Young’s adaptation of
Winnifred is accused by Professor John Van Cleve of reproducing a sonnet by him in
Winnifred attends 70th birthday party (pictured above) for her friend,
author Mark Twain. For about three years, family live, with three female
servants, at 146 Walton Avenue in Long Island’s Orienta Point, later
known as Hollywood in the East
because it was considered a
desirable neighborhood by movie stars such as Lillian and Dorothy Gish
and filmmakers such as D. W. Griffiths. Winnifred enjoys riding horses
in Central Park.
Winnifred and Babcock’s third child, Doris (pictured above with
Winnifred), born. Winnifred publishes
Yone Noguchi rebukes Eaton for her masquerade in an article. Writing as
Winnifred Mooney
, Winnifred begins to try to publish works
that are not on a Japanese theme or signed Onoto Watanna
.
Winnifred publishes an Irish comedy, Onoto Watanna
begin to claim that her mother is part
Chinese and part Japanese.
Winnifred’s play
Winnifred’s son Bertie dies, weeks before his fourth birthday, from convulsions and heart failure caused by encephalitis.
Winnifred’s eldest brother, Edward Charles dies of accidental gunshot wound in Montreal, while sleeping. Her sisters Edith and Florence working as stenographers and living with family at 1737 rue Mance.
Winnifred publishes Sui Sin Far
,
publishes a collection of stories about Chinese and diasporic Chinese
entitled
Winnifred’s sister Edith dies April 7 of heart disease in Montreal and is
buried in Mount Royal Cemetery (gravestone pictured above). Winnifred
co-authors
Winnifred’s father Edward is arrested again for smuggling Chinese into
New York State but he dies of cancer before going to trial. Winnifred
anonymously publishes
In eight monthly installments,
Herself and the author of. Winnifred goes to Reno and divorces Babcock. She finds it difficult to write afterward.Me
Winnifred’s divorce from Babcock granted February 3. She gains full custody of her three children and marries Francis (Frank) Reeve, an American businessman who owns a New York tugboat firm, in Greenwich, Connecticut in April. They move to a grain farm in Beddington, a village 15 miles north of Calgary. Winnifred begins to publish in Canadian magazines.
Frank buys the 4000-hectare Bow View Ranch, a mecca for all aspiring
fishermen and hunters
, near Morley, Alberta, 60 kilometers west
of Calgary, and he and Winnifred relocate there with the children. The
house there is a very comfortable and well set up home consisting of
seven or eight rooms
(Frank Reeve affidavit, Glenbow/Special
Collections, M-6840-6370).
Publishes a serialized novel
Lord Burnham (Imperial Press Association) brings a party of English publishers and editors including Frank Newnes (publisher of the
room of her ownin which to write. She returns to writing
as if I had turned on a mental faucetand writes
Winnifred reads her complete story
Winnifred makes presentation to delegates headed to Ottawa to meet with
Minister of Justice regarding copyright for Canadian authors.
Winnifred’s mother Grace dies in May in New York City while Winnifred is
visiting. Winnifred publishes
Winnifred attends the David Thompson memorial celebration with other Western members of the Canadian Authors’ Association in Windermere Valley, British Columbia in August of this year. She is pictured here with fellow writers, including Bliss Carman and Frederick Niven.
Publishes Book Week
. Rents
house owned by Sam Nickle with a fabulous view of downtown Calgary at
330 Scarboro Avenue which becomes, according to the national literary
publication
a centre for people of literary inclinations and literary aspirations. Assists in the founding of, and named first honorary President of, Calgary’s Little Theatre. Gives talk to Canadian Club of Calgary –
The Canadian Spirit in our Literature; speaks at Little Theater organizing meeting at Hudson Bay Company Tapestry Room about the origins of the movement, attended by author Laura Salverson, Calgary Herald editor C. O. Smith, librarian Alexander Calhoun, CAA Calgary branch secretary and lawyer Patrick Harcourt-O’Reilly, and Winnifred’s neighbour and American Consul S. C Reat.
Publishes
a room of her ownin Calgary. Winnifred negotiates a four-year contract to run Universal Pictures’ East Coast scenario department and be the new story editor (Birchall 155). Universal’s head Carl Laemmle Sr. wants her to encourage her network of literary contacts to write for Universal. Winnifred and children take train to New York in December and live at 593 Riverside Drive. She hopes husband Frank will follow. Winnifred’s son Charley gets job with the
Dedicates her final published novel, Editor-in-chief and literary advisor
. She spends July through
September at Universal’s Hollywood studios (pictured above). Gives
lecture at MacDowell Club of Allied Arts in December. Sells film rights
to
Tim), then separates from her husband and returns to live with Winnifred in California when the baby is four months old. Francis Reeve sells Bow View Ranch and founds F. F. Reeve and Company, a brokerage firm, in Calgary and invests in what becomes an oil boom in Alberta’s Turner Valley.
Winnifred quits job at Universal Studios in December due to lack of creative license. Her son Perry develops severe mental illness, perhaps schizophrenia, and is eventually committed to a state hospital (DB 167). Winnifred moves to Metro-Goldwyn Meyer where she is given an opportunity to write original screenplays as well as do adaptations.
Winnifred does ghostwriting.
Winnifred may have attended Canadian Authors Association meeting
(pictured above). Returns to Universal Studios as a screenwriter rather
than as a story editor. Continues to work on silent films but also
begins to work on talkies
. Begins contributing fiction and
interviews to movie magazines.
Winnifred loses all her savings in stock market crash. First Hollywood
picture for which she is credited with writing the dialogue--
Winnifred living in Los Angeles with daughter Doris and grandson. Writes
screenplays for
Frank Reeve files for divorce but he and Winnifred reconcile by August and spend a romantic week at Lake Tahoe. Frank returns to Calgary to end relations with his mistress. Winnifred returns to Calgary.
Winnifred and her husband live in Suite 19, Barnhart Apartments,
considered one of the finest apartment buildings in Calgary at the time,
located at 1121 6th St. NW Calgary, where she writes
Winnifred at work on novel about Calgary’s economy called
Daughter Doris, after ten years in Hollywood, moves back to Calgary with young son Paul and works as stenographer for her stepfather Frank until his death in 1956.
Winnifred and her husband live at 1205 19th Ave. SW, where Winnifred
writes
Winnifred continues to be a member of the Canadian Authors Association, Calgary branch, executive committee.
Winnifred and Frank buy 801 Royal Avenue, former home of American diplomat, journalist, and author James Davidson. Frank named President and Managing Director of Commonwealth Drilling Company and named Vice-President of Commoil. Frank, his stepdaughter Doris Rooney, and her son Tim cross border at Montana en route to legendary Hollywood hotel, the Hotel Roosevelt, where they plan to stay for three weeks, perhaps to visit Winnifred. In November, in her Calgary home at 801 Royal Avenue, Winnifred hosts a tea for author Laura Salverson--the author she accused in 1924 of paying for a positive review.
Frank serves on board of YMCA and is member of Glencoe Club and Petroleum Club. In May, Winnifred hosts annual general meeting for Calgary branch of Canadian Authors Association at her home.
Winnifred’s son Charley, a writer, now going by the pen name Paul
Eaton Reeve
, marries Helen Finkelstein.
Winnifred’s only granddaughter, Diana (pictured above), born to Charley and Helen in December. In the aftermath of World War Two, Winnifred expresses regret for having posed as Japanese. Winnifred writes plays for the Calgary Little Theatre community.
Ex-husband Bertrand Babcock dies of diabetes and alcoholism.
Winnifred and Frank take cruise to Honolulu from Los Angeles in February.
Winnifred being treated for diabetes at the Mayo Clinic.
Winnifred dies of heart attack in Butte, Montana, en route with Frank to Calgary from California. She is buried in Queen’s Park Cemetery in Calgary. Her estate is worth $313,000.
Husband Frank Reeve dies.
Sister Grace Helen dies, 8 February.
Reeve Theatre (pictured above) at University of Calgary opens, funded in part by a $1 million donation from the Reeve Foundation founded by Frank Reeve after Winnifred’s death.