Local historian celebrates remarkable Queens County women at library

Local historian Kathy Stitt told the stories of three Queens County women on Wednesday at the Thomas H. Raddall Library in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

An internationally renowned hunting and fishing guide, a celebrated historian and educator, and an African missionary. They all travelled and made their mark on the world. 

And they were all women from Queens County.

Local historian Kathy Stitt was at the Thomas H. Raddall in Liverpool on Wednesday to tell the stories of these three remarkable women. Stitt worked for 27 years at Perkins House Museum and the Queens County Museum before retiring last year.

She began the series in 2022 to highlight some of the local women who made their mark on history, and to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.

“A community, whether it’s made of people that have been here all their lives, or somebody that arrived yesterday, they can’t be part of a community if you don’t know where it comes from,” Stitt said in an interview afterward.

The three women Stitt talked about on Wednesday were internationally known outdoorswoman Laura Wamboldt, noted historian and author Janet Mullins, and educator and missionary Diadem Bell.

Wamboldt was born in 1915 in Molega Mines. She and her husband Laurie opened the Ponhook Lodge and Cabins in 1947, now known as Ponhook Lodge Campground. But before that, they made names for themselves at outdoor living shows in the U.S.

Laura Wamboldt was a passionate outdoorswoman, hunter and fisher. 

“And she was an international star,” Stitt told the group at the library. “People used to go to these from different parts of the United States to see Laura Wamboldt. This amazing woman. She was like the Annie Oakley of the outdoor shows. She could do all these sports that the men were doing.” 

Between the ages of 22 and 32, she won four consecutive shooting competitions at these annual shows, beating men every time.

She was also one of the first licensed women guides in Nova Scotia. 

Her husband died in 1968 at age 57. But Laura continued to guide, hunt and fish into her 80s. She died in 2006 at 90 years old.

“And this woman had a passion for the outdoors, which she shared with her family, which she shared with her husband and fortunately in the ‘30s and ‘40s, she shared with the world.”

Janet Mullins, who was born in 1863, was a passionate educator and historian who was still teaching into her 70s. 

She was a friend of Thomas Raddall and one of the people who began the Queens County Historical Society in 1929. She also wrote a history column for the Liverpool Advance from 1935 to 1941.

“At the age of 27, she goes to Dalhousie University and gets her full teaching certificate. It was the highest level of teaching you could get and she brings her knowledge back to Liverpool. She becomes a female vice-principal which was very unusual back then. Her great triumph happened in 1941 when she wrote her book called Some Liverpool Chronicles.”

The third woman Stitt talked about was Diadem Bell. But she was also the most difficult to get a complete picture of, Stitt said, until she found an old 16-page pamphlet titled Miss Diadem Bell: As We Knew Her in a thrift store in Lunenburg.

“And there was her story. This is a woman’s story and it’s a complete story.”

The 16-page pamphlet on the life of Diadem Bell.

Born in Milton in 1870, Bell was precocious but driven. She grew up to be a physically strong woman who became a much-loved teacher in Western Head.

“By 1902, she had explored everything she could do in Canada. And she joined the mission service” to Angola. In the early 1900s, travel was a trial. And getting to Africa was no easy feat. But she returned for almost 20 years, even during the First World War. 

From 1902 to 1923, she worked at schools in the African country, where she also “made an intense effort” to learn the local language. 

She would return to Canada for regular breaks from her work and to raise money for the missions. By 1923, she was travelling in Cobourg, Ont., where she died from appendicitis.

Stitt says she’s fascinated by Bell’s story and her thirst for adventure.

“Travel was really hard. We didn’t get a railway until 1897. You were born in this area, you stayed in this area, you worked in this area, you married somebody in this area, you died in this area. And even to get to Ontario was amazing. But Ontario, London, Portugal, and then to Africa, it’s wow, it’s absolutely amazing.”

Debbie Ripple of Liverpool was one of the people at the afternoon talk. She said she loved hearing the women’s stories.

“It’s just really great to hear where they started from and how long ago and what their lives were like and how different but how similar it can be to us today, these experiences that they have. There are strong women everywhere, … great stories.”

Kathy Stitt will be giving another local history session at the library on April 10, on the history of the cookbook, from cuneiform tablets to modern books like Company’s Coming.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to an audio version of this story below