Mary Jane Katzmann
| Mary Jane Katzmann | |
|---|---|
| Born |
January 15, 1828 Preston, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | March 23, 1890 (aged 62) Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Language | English |
| Nationality |
 Canadian |
| Citizenship | British subject |
| Notable works | Frankincense and Myrrh, History of the Townships ... |
| Notable awards | Akins Historical Prize |
| Spouse | William Lawson |
Mary Jane Katzmann (Mrs. William Lawson) (January 15, 1828 – March 23, 1890) was a Canadian editor, historian, and poet.
Katzmann was born in Preston, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Mary Prescott and Lieutenant Christian Conrad Casper Katzmann. Her father was a native of Hanover, Germany, who had earned a British Army commission in the Peninsular War.
We are told that "she showed exceptional intelligence at an early age, but because she was female she was not given the benefit of a formal education." "She could read at the age of three, and, with the guidance of her family, was largely self-educated."
In 1845 her poetry came to the attention of Joseph Howe, who praised it in his "Nights with the Muses" column in The Nova Scotian. Between 1848 and 1851, Katzmann published a large amount of verse in the Halifax Guardian.
In January 1852 she became editor of The Provincial, a new literary journal, "and under her expert guidance it became possibly the best of the early Nova Scotian periodicals. The format and printing were superior, and the quality of the contributions was commendable.... Katzmann tailored her publication to attract a wide audience, both male and female; she also strove to include articles of regional origin rather than selected reprints."
The magazine "was well received by its readers but sufficient subscriptions were not forthcoming, and publication ceased with the December 1853 issue. Nothing further is known of the editor until 1866, when she was operating the Provincial Bookstore in Halifax."
In 1869 Katzmann married Halifax businessman William Lawson. She turned over the bookstore to her sister, and became a proper non-working Victorian wife (though she continued to write). She spent much time on "charitable and social causes, particularly those associated with the Church of England." They had one daughter.
Lawson worked a series she had written in the Provincial, "Tales of Our Village," into the book, History of the Townships of Dartmouth, Preston and Lawrencetown, Halifax County, N.S., for which she won the Akins Historical Prize from King's College in 1887.
She died of cancer in Halifax in 1890.
Her two books, Frankincense and Myrrh (a collection of her poetry) and History of the Townships of Dartmouth, Preston, and Lawrencetown, Halifax County, N.S.," were published posthumously in 1893, edited by poet Constance Fairbanks and historian Harry Piers.
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