Katherine Jane Gordon (Balfour) Ellice (1813 - 1864)

Born 1813 in Scotland

Ancestors

Wife of Edward Ellice — married 15 Jul 1834 in Scotland, United Kingdom [uncertain]

Died 13 Apr 1864 at about age 51 in Edinburgh, Scotland

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Biography

Katherine Jane was the second daughter of Robert Balfour and Eglantine Fordyce of Fifeshire, Scotland. She married Edward, the only son of the Right Honourable Edward Ellice, at one time Secretary of State for War.

Edward was the private secretary to Lord Durham, who was Governor General of the Province of Canada. In the spring of 1838 she accompanied her husband to Canada. That fall they stayed at the manor house of the seigneury of Beauharnois, which the family had bought in 1796. On November 10, 1838, the house was attacked by Patriote rebels and Katherine, her husband and sister were briefly taken prisoner along with other members of the household. Janie's sketches from her time at Beauharnois and her diary have survived and are held at Library and Archives Canada.

She died at Edinburgh, April 13, 1864.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Katherine Ellice
• Morgan, Henry James, LL.D., F.R.S.N.A., Types of Canadian Women, Vol. 1, William Briggs, Toronto, 1903, p. 106
• KATHERINE JANE ELLICE (1812-1864): DE BEAUHARNOIS ÀGLENQUOICH, RIRES ET PÉRÉGRINATIONS D'UNE ARTISTE ENMOUVEMENT par MARIE FERRON-DESAUTELS; UNIVERSITÉ DU QUÉBEC À MONTRÉAL; 2019.