Album of Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth
A friendship album is traditionally a collection of transcribed poetry and images that were sentiments shared between friends during adolescence and early adulthood as they navigated through pivotal times in their lives. The friendship album of Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth contains poems, letters, illustrations, soldiers' autographs, and more. The items are dated between 1837 and 1897. Rooth's album begins with the inscription "Dear Book" in which the author describes the love and loss of friends within the pages that follow.
Ann Eliza Hepburne was born in Chippawa, Ontario in 1821 to William Hepburne and Susan Shannon. In 1842, she married William Anthony Rooth in St. James Cathedral in Toronto. They continued to live in different parts of the Niagara region including Drummondville, Welland and Port Colborne. William was the editor and proprietor of the Drummondville Reporter as well as an accountant and insurance agent, and later worked for the Customs Service in Port Colborne. He died in 1878, and Eliza in 1899. Both are buried in Drummond Hill Cemetery in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Eliza started her friendship album in 1837 when she was sixteen years old. It contains mostly poems and illustrations by family members and friends, as well as the autographs of soldiers who likely stayed with the family during military campaigns, especially the Fenian raids of 1866. The rich and elaborate detail of illustrations and sentiments reveals a life brimming with friendships and experiences over six decades.
View the entire Ann Eliza Hepburne Rooth friendship album