Jean (McKishnie) Blewett National Historic Person (1862-1934)

Jean (McKishnie) Blewett was designated a national historic person in May 1946.

Historical importance: Popular early 20th-century poet and journalist.

Commemorative plaque: in the Chatham Public Library Chatham, Ontario

Born at Scotia, Upper Canada, and educated at St. Thomas Collegiate Institute, Jean McKishnie was for many years a member of the staff of the Toronto "Globe," continuing as an active journalist until 1925. Between 1897 and 1922 she published several volumes of poetry which was admired by her contemporaries "for the directness and simplicity of theme and form and for the occasional whimsical note". She died at Chatham, Ontario.