Elsie Cassels
Elsie Cassels (February 1864 - 12 November 1938) was a Scottish born naturalist, the first woman to become Vice-President of a Canadian naturalist society. Cassels lived in Red Deer, Alberta and became a recognised authority across Canada on migratory birds who exchanged information (from detailed observations from 1920 to 1935), with the leading (male) ornithologists of her day, 'her keen enthusiasm stimulated a wide interest in ornithology'. Cassels objected to game hunting for pleasure as a conservationist before this was a common approach to wildlife, and helped found a bird sanctuary and in 1924 one of the first Canadian wildlife refuges at Gaetz Lakes, Alberta. Life Elsie McAlister was born in February 1864 near St. Mary's Loch south of Edinburgh to father, Free Church teacher, Archibald McAlister, and mother Janet Reid. Elsie had three brothers and two sisters and the family lived with another family of four lodgers in Megget; two of her brothers, John and Charles worked in the insurance business, and may have introduced Elsie to the man she later married. In 1899, Elsie married William Cassels, born in Yorkshire, England to Scottish parents, his father Rev. Andrew Cassels, vicar of Batley, was known to the Brontë family. William was educated privately at the Edinburgh Academy, when his mother was widowed. The Cassels was an 'irregular' marriage performed by a lodger at the Free Church School House. The couple were from different religious backgrounds with William brought up in the Church of England, and Elsie from the Free Church of Scotland. The Cassels emigrated to Canada where they were homesteaders (a community where prairie women did physical tasks and frequently undertook traditional male roles on the homestead farms). Their first home was at Wavy Lake, Alberta before moving to a farm at Springvale, then moving into Red Deer. Journalists wrote in the Red Deer Advocate when William Cassels died in 1941, and his estate was estimated at $90,000 noting 'plenty of money, but Elsie had never been allowed to spend any of it', and among the ornithology community where Cassels was respected, her husband, William was known for his frugality. Cassels life was based in a log cabin and she developed local nature trails, she identified birdsongs and was a self-taught violinist, called 'a woman of charm and culture' in her obituary. Cassels was childless at a time when that was seen as a stigma. In 1935, Cassels was described in the Calgary Herald, as knowing her birds 'as mothers know their children. Cassels will remain forever young, for she lives in a world of nature and nature never grows old'. Role in ornithology Cassels was among the volunteer ornithologists whose field research made them among the 'outstanding individuals..who spent entire lifetimes learning about [Alberta] province's flora and fauna and sharing that knowledge with others.' Cassels was an enthusiastic speaker and writer about the observed lives of local and migratory birds, botany and other wildlife. Cassels became the first female Vice-President of Alberta National History Society. Cassels was