Martha Jemima Hawkshaw emigrated from London, England, to Toronto in 1851 with her new husband Charles Edwin Holiwell. In 1859 he deserted her and their young daughter and moved to Quebec where he set up a publishing company. To make ends meet Martha opened a school, "Mrs. Holiwell's", in Toronto and hired my great-aunt as an art teacher. Martha was finally granted a divorce by an Act of Parliament in 1877.