Sarah Maxwell was principal of the Hochelaga Protestant School when she lost her life in a fire in 1907 while trying to save her students. Source: Montreal English School Board Archives, Montreal, Quebec.
For some seemingly bizarre reason, the city of Montreal needs to find the descendants of Sarah Maxwell, a woman who never married, in order to name a park after her.
On February 26, 1907, Ms. Maxwell was a teacher and principal at Hochelaga Protestant School when it caught fire. While attempting to save her students, she ignored firefighters’ calls to save herself and succumbed to the smoke and flames. She was 31 years old.
W.S. Herrington wrote in Heroines of Canadian History in 1910, “She could easily have escaped after she had handed to safety all the children who were near her, but just as the firemen made ready to escort her to safety, she cried out, ‘There must be some more children inside,’ sprang back from the window, and rushed through the smoke and heat in the attempt to find the missing children. The firemen instantly followed her, but it was impossible to continue and live. Nothing more was seen of Miss Maxwell, her charred body, and those of the dead children, being found the next day.”
Before the city will rename a small park after her, muncipal bureaucracy demands Ms. Maxwell’s descendants be found in order to determine whether they agree with the idea or not.
In an op-ed piece in the Montreal Gazette, genealogist, historian and author Robert N. Wilkins wrote, “As both a genealogist and family historian, I know full well that tracking down distant relatives is more often than not next to an impossible task.
“It is for me mind-boggling that a municipal culture that has shown in the past little difficulty eliminating significant, century-old place names from the urban landscape, finds itself incapable of endorsing a name change to a minor park without posing insurmountable obstacles.”
Let’s hope intelligence prevails and the city moves ahead with renaming the park to honour Ms. Maxwell, whether or not they find her relatives.
In the meantime, I have been corresponding through Facebook with a former Montrealer, now living in Ontario, who says she is related on her grandfather’s side. Perhaps the relationship is enough for approval to be given to finally give Sarah Maxwell the honour that is long overdue.
Read more about Ms. Maxwell and municipal silliness in the article, Honour for heroic Montreal principal Sarah Maxwell long overdue. Mr. Wilkins wrote a lengthier article about Ms. Maxwell in 2008.
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