1874 - (November 30) Lucy Maud Montgomery born in Clifton, Prince Edward Island, Canada to Clara Macneill Montgomery and Hugh John Montgomery.
1876 - Mother dies of tuberculosis. She is left in care of Alexander and Lucy Woolner Macneill (her maternal grandparents).
1883 - Begins writing her extensive journals (which will go on throughout her life) and poetry.
1884 - Hugh John Montgomery moves to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
1887 - Father marries his second wife, Mary Ann McRae, and they move to Saskatchewan permanently.
1888 - Kate Montgomery, Maud's half-sister is born.
1890 - Travels across the country with her paternal grandfather, Senator Donald Montgomery to join her father and stepmother in Prince Albert. She forms friendships with two siblings, Laura and Will Pritchard. Her first publication, a poem titled "On Cape Le Force," based on a local story from P.E.I. is published in the Charlottetown Daily Patriot. She attends high school in Prince Albert. Her teacher, John Mustard, flirts with her.
1891 - Maud's half-brother, David Bruce Montgomery, is born. For almost two months, she is kept from school to look after him and do domestic chores. She published an article in the Montreal Witness titled "The Wreck of the Marco Polo" and an article on Saskatchewan, "A Western Eden," in the Prince Albert Times. Hugh John runs for a seat as a Liberal in the national Parliament and is defeated. Maud returns to P.E.I.; lives with her cousins, the Campbells, at Park Corner. Her poem, "Farewell," is published in The Saskatchewan.
1892 - Develops a close friendship with her cousin, Frede (Frederica) Campbell. She completes school in Cavendish, and studies for her entrance examinations to Prince of Wales College in Charlottetown, P.E.I.
1893 - Maud places 5th of 264 candidates on her entrance examination. Her poem, "A Violet's Spell" is published and "paid" for with two subscriptions to The Ladies' World of New York. Her half-brother, Hugh Carlyle (Carl) Montgomery is born. Maud enters Prince of Wales College in the second-year program, taking two years of work in a single year, studying for her teacher's license.
1894 - She completes her examinations with an honors certificate, leading her classmates in English drama, English literature and school management. At commencement, she delivers a graduate essay, titled "Portia-A Study." She receives a second-class teaching certificate and begins teaching in Bideford, P.E.I. in a one room school. She writes stories and poems early in the morning each day.
1895 - She receives a first-class teaching certificate, and she enrolls in Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a year-long, self-designed course in English Literature under Dr. Archibald MacMechan.
1896 - Maud receives her first paycheck for a publication, five dollars for her story, "Our Charivari," published under the name "Maud Cavendish" in Golden Days. She is then paid twelve dollars for her poem, "Fisher's Lassies," in Youth's Companion. Her article on women's education, titled "A Girl's Place at Dalhousie College" is published in the Halifax Herald.
1897 - She teaches in Belmont, P.E.I. She suffers from depression. She becomes engaged to a theological student, her second cousin, Edwin Simpson
1898 - Called by Maud: "The year of mad passion." She teaches at Lower Bedeque, boarding with the Leard family. There, she falls in love with the son of her boarding family, a young farmer Herman Leard, but rejects the idea of marrying him because he is "unworthy." She breaks her engagement to Edwin Simpson. She publishes 19 short stories and 14 poems during the course of the year. Her grandfather, Alexander Macneill dies, and Maud gives up teaching and returns home to live with her grandmother in Cavendish, assisting her as postmistress through 1901.
1899 - Herman Leard dies. She completes the first version of a book, A Golden Carol, which was repeatedly rejected, never published and later burned.
1900 - Maud's father, Hugh John, dies in Prince Albert at the age of fifty-eight.
1901 - She begins work as a newspaper woman, as proofreader for the Halifax Daily Echo and society page editor. As "Cynthia," she writes the column, "Around the Tea Table."
1902 - She enters into a lifelong correspondence with Ephraim Weber of Alberta through Miriam Zieber's formal pen friend's club.
1903 - Maud enters a second lifelong pen friendship with George Boyd Macmillan of Alloa, Scotland. Ewan Macdonald is inducted as minister of the Presbyterian Church in Cavendish.
1905 - She starts writing Anne of Green Gables.
1906 - Anne of Green Gables is rejected by four publishers, and Maud puts her manuscript away in a hatbox. She becomes engaged to Reverend Ewan Macdonald. He departs to attend United Free Church College in Glasgow, Scotland for the year.
1907 - Maud sends a revised version of Anne of Green Gables to L.C. Page Co. of Boston. The manuscript is accepted for publication and the acceptance letter suggests "a second story dealing with the same character." The royalties offer is nine cents per copy, and no provision in the contract is made for film and drama rights. Maud begins work on Anne of Avonlea.
1908 - Anne of Green Gables is published in June, goes through six editions and sells 19 000 copies in five months. Maud gets hundreds of fan letters, including one from Mark Twain, which she keeps under her pillow. "Una of the Garden" is published as a serial.
1909 - Maud receives her first royalty check, one for $1,730. Anne of Green Gables is translated to Swedish, the first of many translations. Anne of Avonlea is published, as well as around fifty short stories and poems. She begins expanding "Una of the Garden" to a novel length, Kilmeny of the Orchard.
1910 - Kilmeny of the Orchard is published. Governor-general, Earl Grey, visiting Charlottetown, asks to meet "the author of Anne." Maud presents the Earl signed copies of her books at his viceregal party. She is invited to Boston by her publisher, and attends a reception given by the Boston Authors Club to honor her. Ewan MacDonald accepts the ministry of a Presbyterian church with two congregations in Leaskdale and Zephyr, Ontario.
1911 - Maud's grandmother, Lucy Woolner Macneill, dies. The Story Girl is published. Maud and Ewan marry July 5th and honeymoon in Scotland and England during the summer. They return to Canada and settle in the manse at Leaskdale.
1912 - Chronicles of Avonlea is published. Maud and Ewan's first son, Chester Cameron, is born.
1913 - Maud begins work on a third book on Anne. She visits P.E.I. during the summer. The Golden Road is published. She completes Anne of Redmond, which is re-titled by her publishers to Anne of the Island.
1914 - Maud's second child, Hugh Alexander, is born dead. Her sorrow is coupled with acute anxiety over the beginning of World War I.
1915 - Maud nurses her friend, Frede Campbell, through typhoid. Anne of the Island is published. Her original contract with L.C. Page expires, and she signs a second contract for only a collection of short stories. Maud gives birth to Ewan Stuart.
1916 - The Watchman and Other Poems is published to sluggish sales. She leaves the publishing company Page for Stokes and the Toronto firm, McClelland & Stewart.
1917 - Everywoman's World, a Toronto magazine, published a series of six autobiographical sketches that is published in book form as The Alpine Path. Anne's House of Dreams is published. Maud places her first vote, as a sister of a serviceman.
1918 - Maud and Ewan buy their first automobile. They visit P.E.I. during the summer. In the fall Maud falls very ill with the "Spanish flu," which her cousin George dies from. She goes to Park Corner and nurses the Campbell family.
1919 - Maud goes to Boston for her first lawsuit with Page & Co. over reprint rights and their withholding of royalties on the Anne books. She receives a check for $20,000 in settlement, marking the end of her claims to royalties on the early Anne books through Anne's House of Dreams. Frede Campbell, ill with the flu and pneumonia, calls for Montgomery to St. Anne's, Quebec. Maud arrives just before Frede dies. Rainbow Valley is published. Ewan suffers from "melancholia" and a nerve specialist is consulted. The film, "Anne of Green Gables", starring Mary Miles Minter as Anne, is released. L.C. Page receives $40,000 for film rights; Maud receives nothing. She begins working on Rilla of Ingleside.
1920 -Page publishes Further Chronicles of Avonlea, Against Maud's command, by compiling manuscripts from their vault. She testifies in Boston against Page for three weeks, after which they sue her for libel. The original Page case is thrown out of court, and the company appeals to the Massachusetts Supreme Court and then later to the U.S. Supreme Court, in a lawsuit lasting nine years. Maud begins working on Emily of New Moon.
1921 - Rilla of Ingleside is published. Ewan and Marshall Pickering have a car collision.
1922 - Maud completes Emily of New Moon and begins work on a second book on Emily. Marshall Pickering sues for damages in the accident and is awarded $3,000; the MacDonald's appeal.
1923 - Maud is made a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Arts. Emily of New Moon is published. A judge decides in her favor over the Further Chronicles of Avonlea case. The Page suit is thrown out of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, followed by another appeal as well as another libel suit.
1924 - The Page libel lawsuit is dismissed. Maud agrees to write four stories for The Delineator for $1,600.
1925 -The U.S. Supreme Court decides against Page. Ewan suffers a mental relapse. Emily Climbs is published, she completes her stories for The Delineator and Maud begins writing The Blue Castle, set Muskoka, Ontario. Ewan accepts positions in the Presbyterian churches of Norval and Union, Ontario.
1926 - The MacDonald's move to the Norval manse, where Ewan suffers attacks of melancholia again. She attends a Canadian Women's Press Club meeting in Toronto and meets her half-sister, Ila May. The Blue Castle is published, and Maud completes her third Emily novel.
1927 - Emily's Quest is published. Maud is presented to the Prince of Wales, Prince George, and the British prime minister.
1928 - Montgomery
meets her penpal Ephraim Weber for the first time since she began corresponding
with him in 1902. The lawsuits with Page are settled. Montgomery
completes Magic for Marigold.
1929 - Magic
for Marigold is published.
1930 -Montgomery
makes a speaking tour through western Canada and begins copying and
editing her journals.
1931 - A
Tangled Web is published (in England the book appeared a year
later as Aunt Becky Began It). Montgomery makes her first
radio appearance, reading her poems. She publishes an "Open
Letter from a Minister's Wife."
1932 - Montgomery
is involved in directing plays for her church.
1933 - Pat
of Silver Bush is published. Her son Chester reveals his secret
marriage.
1934 - Ewan
spends several months in a mental institution in Guelph after a breakdown. Maud's
first grandchild is born to Chester and his wife. A second "Anne
of Green Gables" film is released, with no profit to Montgomery. She
experiences financial troubles and her health is deteriorating. She
collaborates with Marian Keith and Mabel Burns McKinley to write a book of
biographies titled Courageous Women.
1935 - Ewan
retires from the ministry and the family moves to "Journey's End" in
a Toronto suburb. Maud's life's work are celebrated as she is
made a Companion of the Order of the British Empire as part of King
George V's jubilee honor list, and she elected to the Literary and
Artistic Institute of France. Mistress Pat is
published.
1936 - Anne
of Windy Poplars (The British edition was published under her preferred
title of Anne of Windy Willows) is published. Her second
grandchild is born. A
part of Cavendish, including Green Gables, Lover's Lane, is designated
as a national park by the Canadian government.
1937 - Jane
of Lantern Hill is published. She views two staged productions
of Anne of Green Gables. Her health and the health of
her husband's suffer.
1938 - Montgomery
suffers a nervous collapse and struggles to continue to write her next "Anne" novel.
1939 - Anne
of Ingleside is published. She signs a film contract with
RKO for the rights to "Anne of Windy
Poplars". Grosset and Dunlap begin reprinting all
of her early works. She visits P.E.I. for a final time. Her
depression deepens as WWII begins.
1940 - Montgomery's
health continues to suffer as she injures her arm and
has a physical breakdown. Her husband spends time alone in Florida
for health reasons. Maud works on a final collection of "Anne" stories,
which she called "The Blythes are Quoted (published posthumously
in 1974 as The Road to Yesterday).
1941 - Montgomery
writes her final letter to G.B. Macmillan.
1942 - L.
M. Montgomery dies on April 24 in Toronto and is buried in Cavendish
cemetery, Prince Edward Island. Her husband died a year later.
References
for timeline (note: some dates vary between the two sources):
L. M. Montgomery, Wendy E. Barry, and M. Doody. The Annotated Anne of Green
Gables. Eds. Mary E. Jones and Margaret Anne Doody. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997.
Mary Rubio and Elizabeth Waterston. Writing a Life: L. M. Montgomery.
Toronto: ECW Press, 1995
Last Updated 01.15.07
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