Esther Elizabeth Draper

BIOGRAPHY - The essay which follows was written by Esther Elizabeth Rogers as an assignment while attending Mt. Allison Ladies' College in 1914-1915 and was dated April 12, 1915. Esther graduated from the Woodstock Grammar School on June 29, 1910 with her brother, Harrison. She was 15 years of age at the time of her graduation. She & her brother were members of the last class to graduate from the Carleton County Grammar School. The new L. P. Fisher Memorial High School was under construction at that time and opened in September, 1915.

MY BIOGRAPHY BY ESTHER ELIZABETH ROGERS BIRTHDAY - "On the fourth day of October, 1894, on a farm five miles from Woodstock, my quiet life began. I was born on the day a cousin [Emma Gibson, later to marry Harry T. Rogers] was fifteen years old which coincidence has brought me much pleasure. With the exception of two or three times our birthdays have been spent together, first at her home, then at mine.

I was the first girl [in the Rogers' Family] although there had been three older brothers. The youngest of these three brothers [Harrison] has always been my companion and many times while yet quite young we performed our mischievous work which received its due punishment.

SCHOOL DAYS - In the fall before I was six years old [i.e. 1900] I started my school life, but I only went for a short time before my mother took me to Minnesota. The last of October or the first of November we left home, returning shortly before Christmas. Of this trip I remember little. Just such important (?) things as being scolded by a cross woman when waiting in Montreal, the good cookies I received when I carried the milk for a dear old lady in Grand Rapids [Minnesota] near grandfather's home [Grandfather was Lafayette Knox] and of being left to stay all night with my cousins in Aitkin but getting homesick almost before Mother reached the door I started for the hotel and reached there before Mother. [Note: While in Grand Rapids Esther's Mother, Emily Knox Rogers, visited her father, Lafayette Knox, and her aged Grandparents, George & Julia Ann [Jackson] Knox, who were living with Lafayette Knox and family at that time.]

The next term I started to school again. We lived one and one-half miles from the school house; but I always loved my school and nothing could persuade me to stay home if it were possible for me to go. My school life was much the same as any country school life. When I was about seven years of age I made my first real public appearance, singing a solo at a concert. That might have been safe enough then; but would be dangerous now if the audience wished to hear the rest of programme. I often went down the road to spend the night with my girl friends.

HIGH SCHOOL -At the age of twelve [at the end of Grade 7] I decided to try the entrance papers to the ninth grade, because I could not have my brother [Harrison] go and leave me. To my delight we both passed and for the next three years [1907-1908, 1908-1909, 1909-1910 attended the High School in Woodstock. We rode back and forth all the time excepting six weeks. In 1910 I graduated receiving my diploma and also passed the matriculation examinations in July of the same year. During these school years many little things happened, such as my first young peoples' party, learning to ride a bicycle accompanied by its many falls, etc. of which I have not time to tell.

AT HOME - The next four years of my life were spent at home with my mother learning the many necessary household duties and studying piano. [Mrs. George True, Woodstock, was Esther's piano teacher.] There, with the social and religious duties, made my time go very quickly and on the graduation of my next sister [Louise graduated from Woodstock High School in June, 1914] last June, it was decided that I should spend a year at Mount Allison Ladies' College.These last four years held many pleasures. In the winter there were trips to the lumber camps, skating and coasting and in the summer we often went to the "Dead Water", a sort of lake [on the Gibson Mill Stream] near a settlement [Kilmarnock] not very far away.

Now my happy year [1914-1915] at Mount Allison is nearly at its close and I am eagerly looking forward to May when I shall again return home. With these words I close the brief sketch of my life, hoping the future will be as full of joy and as free from sorrow." [This essay received a B Grade.]