Memorable Manitobans: Olive Elsie Knox (1903-1982)

Olive Knox Click to enlarge

Teacher, author.

Born at Fort Stewart, Ontario on 21 January 1903 to Mr. and Mrs. George D. Robinson, she lived in South Dakota from 1909 to 1915 and Saskatchewan before arriving in Manitoba, where she graduated from the University of Manitoba (BA, BEd). She taught school for a time then, in December 1924, married fellow teacher Harold C. Knox. She began writing in the 1940s, including children’s stories, radio plays, newspaper articles, and several books, including:

• By Paddle and Saddle (1946)
• Red River Shadows (1948)
• Little Giant: The Story of Henry Kelsey (1951)
• Black Falcon (1954)
• Mrs. Minister (1956, a biographical book)
• The Young Surveyor (1956, a teen novel based on the exploits of E. W. Jarvis)
• John Black of Old Kildonan (1958).

Many of her books dealt with Western Canadian historical themes. She served as President of the Winnipeg Branch of the Canadian Authors’ Association. In 1970, she was awarded a Manitoba Centennial Medal by the Manitoba Historical Society. She died at Winnipeg on 12 March 1982.

Her articles for the Manitoba Historical Society:

The Question of Louis Riel’s Insanity
MHS Transactions, Series 3, Number 6, 1949-50 season

Red River Cart
Manitoba Pageant, Number 1, April 1956

Red River Cart Trains
Manitoba Pageant, Number 2, September 1956

Three Weeks with a Red River Cart-Train, Part 1
Manitoba Pageant, Volume 3, Number 2, January 1958

Three Weeks with a Red River Cart-Train, Part 2
Manitoba Pageant, Volume 3, Number 3, April 1958

Sources:

Birth registration, Ancestry.

Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 15 March 1982, page 37.

We thank Carrie Guilbault and Mike Murtha for providing additional information used here.

This profile was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Profile revised: 20 December 2012

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