# Faith Fenton

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**Alice Freeman** (1857 - 1936) was a [Canadian](/source/Canadians) school teacher and investigative journalist. She became Canada's first female columnist while writing for the *[Toronto Empire](/source/Toronto_Empire)* newspaper. Freeman wrote under the [pseudonym](/source/Pseudonym) **Faith Fenton** to keep her job as a teacher, as journalism was seen as an unacceptably disreputable activity for a teacher to be involved in.[1] With the low salary she earned at these jobs, she required both salaries to support herself.[1]

## Childhood

Fenton was the third of twelve children, and was sent to live with a [Bowmanville, Ontario](/source/Bowmanville,_Ontario) [minister](/source/Minister_(Christianity)) and his wife when Fenton was age ten.[2] [Margaret Reike](/source/Margaret_Reike), her [foster mother](/source/Foster_parent), ensured Fenton got an education beyond what her parents might have afforded.[2]

## Journalism career

Fenton began her journalist career in 1886 as a [Toronto](/source/Toronto) correspondent for the *[Northern Advance](/source/Northern_Advance)*, a daily newspaper in [Barrie, Ontario](/source/Barrie,_Ontario).[1] In 1888, she began writing a column for *The Toronto Empire*. The column, titled "Women's Empire", dealt with issues relevant to women of the day: [sexual discrimination](/source/Sexual_discrimination), [sexual harassment](/source/Sexual_harassment), [child abuse](/source/Child_abuse) and the [gender wage gap](/source/Gender_wage_gap).[2] Fenton wrote columns at night, travelled to work as a journalist during the summer, while remaining a teacher during the day.[1] As a writer, she interviewed famous people of the day like [Susan B. Anthony](/source/Susan_B._Anthony), [Oliver Wendell Holmes](/source/Oliver_Wendell_Holmes_Jr.), [Catherine Parr Traill](/source/Catherine_Parr_Traill),[2] [Pauline Johnson](/source/Pauline_Johnson) and [Emma Albani](/source/Emma_Albani).[1] She kept her double identity secret until 1893.[1] She resigned her job as a schoolteacher in 1894 and became a full-time journalist.[1]

When [gold was discovered in the Yukon](/source/Yukon_Gold_Rush), Fenton accompanied the [Yukon Field Force](/source/Yukon_Field_Force)'s nurses to the [Yukon](/source/Yukon) as a correspondent for *[The Globe](/source/The_Globe_(Toronto_newspaper))*.[1][3] Fenton departed Toronto in the spring, arriving in the Yukon in August.[4] In the Yukon, Fenton met and married Dr. John Brown.[5] Fenton took up residence in [Dawson City](/source/Dawson_City) and began to send reports of the gold rush back to eastern Canada.[4] She returned to Toronto in 1904.[1]

## References

1. ["Faith Fenton (1857-1936)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070516171856/http://www.collectionscanada.ca/cool/002027-2105-e.html). Collections Canada. Archived from [the original](http://www.collectionscanada.ca/cool/002027-2105-e.html) on 2007-05-16. Retrieved 2007-07-17.

1. Margaret Gunning. ["A Passionate Pen - The Life and Times of Faith Fenton"](http://www.collectionscanada.ca/eppp-archive/100/202/300/newreader/newreader.b01/Readers/Reader/1996Fall/downie.html)

1. Pruden, Jana G. (5 March 2024). ["Queens of the Gilded Age"](https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-meet-the-queens-of-the-gilded-age-who-pioneered-womens-journalism-in/). *The Globe and Mail*. Retrieved 26 August 2024. Fenton – then 40 years old, ... journeyed to Yukon with a group from the Victorian Order of Nurses and became The Globe’s correspondent in the Klondike.

1. Les McLaughlin. ["Faith Fenton Journalist"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070927205821/http://www.hougens.com/yukonHistory/nuggets_year/2000s.aspx?nugget=1936). Archived from [the original](http://www.hougens.com/yukonHistory/nuggets_year/2000s.aspx?nugget=1936) on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-07-17.

1. ["Fenton, Faith, 1857-1936"](http://library.mcmaster.ca/archives/findaids/fonds/f/fenton.htm). McMaster University.

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