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www.oakvillebeaver.com The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday June 11, 2008 - 31 Famous female author lived in house Gallery fundraiser on Friday Continued from page 29 Luckily for historians, Charles kept a journal from age 36 until the time of his death at age 87. His writings are filled with tales of life in the area and are now in the safekeeping of the provincial archives. "It is unusual for someone at this level of society to keep a diary," McAlpine said. "Usually people who kept diaries were socialites or politicians or someone like that in the upper echelons. People who lived on a farm usually didn't have the education or the time to sit down and keep records." The house's strong brick walls seems contradictory to the family that lived within them. Charles outlived four of his seven children, several who died as infants. His wife, Elizabeth, passed away at age 58 in 1861. "Having children was so difficult during that time and there were so many illnesses," McAlpine said. "Charles sold the house and moved to another farm a few years after Elizabeth died." The house was inhabited by many different families over the next 118 years, but its most notable tenant was Mazo de la Roche (1879-1961). The Canadian author lived in the house from 1911 to 1915 with her family. She was in her early 30s at this time and had been writing seriously for about a decade, publishing poems and stories sporadically. She would later become famous for a series of romantic novels. Mazo de la Roche featured the home, as well as other details about the area and the lives of its villagers in her novel Possession. An upstairs bedroom in the house has been furnished in the 1910 style. Some of the items in the room, such as the wooden bed, belonged to the author. "She had a bedroom that overlooked the lake, so it was either this one or the room below this, but it is likely it was on the second floor," McAlpine said. The room is a highlight for tourists, she added. "We've had people from Russia and all kinds of places come through and because Mazo de la Roche's books were translated into so many languages, people know about her and have read her books or their mothers read her books," said McAlpine. Mazo de la Roche's bedroom is not the only space featuring historical items. Each room of the house has various displays featuring information Oakville Galleries' 14th annual fundraising gala and auction A Night at Gairloch will be held June 13 at 7 p.m. at Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens. Tickets cost $200 per person. Proceeds go to children's art education and public programming at Oakville Galleries. For information or tickets for the Oakville Galleries' fundraiser, call 905-844-4402, ext. 21. Is your business utilizing the Provincial Government's Targeted Wage Subsidy program to help pay for the costs of training new employees? Call us fo r m o r e i n f o r ma ti o n 1-866-557-8324 Burlington · Georgetown · Milton · Oakville See Art page 33 Employment Ontario projects are funded in part by the Government of Canada