Jesse Edgar Middleton
{{Short description|Canadian journalist, historian, and songwriter}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Jesse Edgar Middleton
| image = Jesse Edgar Middleton.png
| image_size =
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1872|11|3}}
| birth_place = Wellington County, Ontario
| death_date = {{death date and age|1960|5|27|1872|11|3}}
| death_place = Toronto, Ontario
| occupation = Historian, journalist
| nationality = Canadian
| period = 20th century
| genre = History
| spouse = {{marraige|Bessie A. Jackson|1899}}
| subject =
| resting_place = Fort Macleod, Alberta
| alma_mater = Dutton High School
Strathroy Collegiate
}}
Jesse Edgar Middleton (November 3, 1872 – May 27, 1960) was a Canadian journalist, historian and songwriter.
Biography
Middleton was born in Pilkington, Ontario, the son of Margaret Agar and Rev. Eli Middleton, a Methodist minister. He attended Dutton High School and Strathroy Collegiate. He then taught school for three years, and was a proofreader in Cleveland, Ohio for three years. In 1899 he married Bessie A. Jackson and together they raised one son. They moved to Toronto in the early 1900s.{{cite book |title=Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship |last=Stulken |first=Marilyn Kay |date=1981 |page=175 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=Fortress Press}}
For most of his career, he worked as a journalist and as a special writer for Toronto newspapers. He became a music critic for the Mail and Empire, and in 1904 joined The News, where he wrote a column, "On the Side."{{cite web |url=http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/garvin/poets/middleton.html |title=J. Edgar Middleton |publisher=A Celebration of Women Writers |first=John |last=Garvin}} He led the choir at Centennial Methodist Church, and sang in Toronto's Mendelssohn Choir. In 1926 he composed the English lyrics to a traditional Canadian Christmas hymn, the Huron Carol.{{cite web |title=Jesse Edgar Middleton |url=https://hymnary.org/person/Middleton_JE |publisher=Hymnary.org}}
Aside from one volume of poetry and two novels, his main writing contribution was a lengthy historical account of Toronto and its local environs, The Municipality of Toronto (3 volumes). He also wrote a history of the province, The Province of Ontario: a History (4 volumes).{{cite book |editor-last=McKay |editor-first=William Angus |date=1978 |title=Macmillan Dictionary of Canadian Biography |edition=4 |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |publication-place=London, England |page=576}}
He died in Toronto in 1960 and was buried in Fort Macleod, Alberta.
Works
- Sea Dogs and Men at Arms: A Canadian Book of Songs (1918)
- Huron Carol: The First Canadian Christmas Carol (1927)
- Province of Ontario: A History 1615 to 1927 (1927) with Fred Landon
- The Romance of Ontario (1931)
- Green Plush (1932)
- Toronto's 100 Years (1934)
- National Encyclopedia of Canadian Biography (1935) [co-edited]
- The Clever Ones (1936)
- William Tyrell of Weston (1937) [with Edith Morrison]
- Canadian Landscape (1944) [with F. H. Brigden]
- Green Fields Afar (1947) [with Clara Middleton]{{cite web |title=Jesse Edgar Middleton |url=http://www.authorandbookinfo.com/cgi-bin/auth.pl?M005440 |publisher=Author and Book Info}}
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority Control}}
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Category:20th-century Canadian journalists
Category:20th-century Canadian writers
Category:Journalists from Ontario