Fonds F1264 - Jean McDonald fonds

Ann Jane "Jean" Blaney, 1877-1969, was born in Ayr, Scotland of Irish parents. She emigrated to Canada in 1907 with her first husband, William McWilliam, and their two children, Mollie (La France) and John, ?-1942. She separated from her husband in 1910 and moved to Calgary, Alberta with the children. She did housework, worked as the matron for the city police, and ran a boarding house.

During the First World War she was instrumental in the formation of the Great War Next-of-Kin Association, which lobbied for better allowances for soldiers' wives. In the early 1920s she founded the Women's Labour League, which pressed the government to improve pensions and assistance for the poor. She was the Child Welfare Convenor for the Calgary Local Council of Women for over 30 years. She formed the National Social Security Association in the 1940s.

In 1937 she married William Andrew McDonald, 1886-1950, who was originally from Prince Edward Island.

For further information see Splendid Circles : Women's Clubs in Calgary, 1912-1939 / Kathleen E. Oliver. -- University of Calgary : unpublished MA thesis, 1992; and Georgeen Barrass' article "Jean McWilliam" in Glenbow [magazine], vol. 5, no.2 (March/April 1972), p. 6-7.