Eliza Maria Harvey

Eliza Maria Harvey (December 24, 1838 – April 6, 1903) was a Canadian farmer, butter producer and writer at one time described as the "best known dairywoman on the continent".

The daughter of Robert Harvey, miller, and Sarah Glassford, she was born in Maitland, Upper Canada and was educated in Montreal and Scotland. She returned to the family farm following the death of her mother.

In 1859, she married Chilion Jones, the son of Jonas Jones, in Brockville; the couple had seven children. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Ottawa where her husband, an architect, worked on the construction of the Parliament buildings. At the completion of that project, they returned to Brockville. Harvey operated a small dairy operation there. She began raising purebred Jersey cattle. She established a large herd, which she carefully managed. Taking advantage of the rich milk produced by these cattle, she began producing high quality butter which she was able to sell at a premium price in Canada and the United States. Her Canadian customers included the Rideau Club in Ottawa and the Canadian Pacific Railway.

During the 1880s, she began showing her cattle at exhibitions in Ontario, Quebec and New York state, collecting many prizes for her animals. She sold her cattle to buyers across North America, including the Ontario Agricultural College in Guelph. She was a regular contributor of articles on farming to various periodicals including the Farmer's Advocate and Home Magazine and the Family Herald and Weekly Star in Montreal. In 1892, published a collection of her columns as Dairying for profit: or, the poor man’s cow, which she dedicated to the farmer's wives of America. The Farmer's Advocate advertised it as "the best book ever written". A French version Laiterie payante: ou, la vache du pauvre was published in 1894. In 1893, she published a pamphlet Lecture on co-operative dairying and winter dairying.

In 1896, she sold half of her herd to a farmer in Prince Edward Island but continued to raise some cattle for her family's use. She also began to raise horses for racing or pulling carriages. She also wrote short stories for publication in the Farmer's Advocate.

In the fall of 1902, Harvey travelled to Gananoque where her husband had taken ill. She became ill herself and died there at the age of 64.

References 

Category:1838 births
Category:1903 deaths
Category:Farmers from Ontario
Category:Canadian cattlemen
Category:Dairy farmers
Category:Canadian women non-fiction writers
Category:19th-century Canadian women writers
Category:19th-century Canadian non-fiction writers