The Mayflower and the Olive Branch

Olive Branch newspaper. Dated November 29, 1844. Edited by Sarah Herbert, it was a temperance publication.

The Mayflower or, Ladies’ Acadian Newspaper, dated May, 1851, Vol. 1, No. 21. Edited by Mary Eliza Herbert.

The Aeolian Harp, dated M DCCC LVII (1858). A book of poetry by both Sarah and Mary. Issued in 1858 after Sarah’s early death in 1846.

Half-sisters Sarah and Mary Eliza Herbert made their mark in the mid-1800s

In mid-19th-century Halifax, when few women had access to the printing press as more than readers, half-sisters Sarah and Mary Eliza Herbert defied expectations. Sarah became editor and proprietor of The Olive Branch, a newspaper promoting temperance and moral reform. Mary Eliza later founded and edited The Mayflower, Nova Scotia’s first magazine published by a woman. Their work as editors, publishers, and poets offers rare insight into the voices of women in early Nova Scotian print culture – voices shaped by faith, family, and the reformist spirit of their time.

Sarah (1824 – 1846) and Mary Eliza (1829 – 1872) Herbert were half-sisters from Halifax, Nova Scotia. Sarah had a dramatic entrance to Nova Scotia. In May 1826, the Nassau, a passenger ship carrying immigrants from Ireland to Nova Scotia, wrecked off Sable Island – the so-called graveyard of the Atlantic. Sarah was one of two infants saved. Though the entire Herbert family survived the wreck, tragedy followed: a year later, Sarah’s mother died of typhus. Her father, Nicholas Michael Herbert, recovered and married Catherine Eagan in 1828. Mary Eliza was born the following year.

Both sisters wrote to satisfy society’s taste for popular romance but their strong Methodist upbringing was also reflected in their writings. Sarah was submitting religious prose and poetry to Maritime journals such as the Novascotian, and the Morning Herald. In 1843 she won a fiction contest sponsored by the Olive Branch for her serial ‘Agnes Maitland’. The story advocated temperance, moral and religious principles.

The contest win brought her to the attention of The Olive Branch editors, and in April 1844, Sarah became the paper’s editor and proprietor. The paper – Devoted to Temperance, Education, Morality, Literature, Foreign and Domestic Intelligence – was founded in 1843 by the Halifax Temperance Society. It was originally edited by Edward Young, the Society’s secretary, and published by J.H. Crosskill & Co.

The Herbert family were well-known members of Halifax’s devout Irish Methodist community. Sarah became recognized for her sacred verse and temperance fiction. She was also active in the Methodist Sabbath School and the Ladies’ Temperance and Benevolent Society. Sadly, she died of tuberculosis in 1846 at just 22 years of age.

Mary Eliza followed in her sister’s footsteps. In 1851, she became the first woman in Nova Scotia to edit and publish a magazine: The Mayflower, or Ladies’ Acadian Newspaper. A slim 32-page volume, The Mayflower included original works by women and reflected the sentimental, pious, and proper tone expected of a ladies’ publication. It was printed at the Athenaeum, the official press of the Sons of Temperance, but survived for only nine months due to lack of support.

The sisters generally wrote content that would appeal to a largely female audience, including poems and stories of romance with strong moral lessons. This was in contrast to the writings of Mary Jane Katzmann, a contemporary of Mary’s. Katzmann’s 1852 publication, The Provincial or Halifax Monthly Magazine, reached a broader audience and included local-interest stories for both men and women.

After Sarah’s death, Mary Eliza published a collection of both sisters’ poetry in The Aeolian Harp: or, Miscellaneous Poems (1858). The title references a stringed instrument played by the wind, often associated with spiritual awakening and emotional reflection – a fitting symbol for the tone and intent of their work.

The Aeolian Harp – Music Played by the Wind

The Aeolian harp is a stringed instrument named after Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of wind. Unlike traditional instruments, it requires no human touch to play. Instead, it is placed in a window or other breezy location, where moving air causes its strings to vibrate and produce soft, harmonic tones. The resulting sound is ghostly, ethereal – often described as heavenly or otherworldly.

Popular in 18th- and 19th-century parlours, Aeolian harps were associated with spiritual contemplation and poetic inspiration. They became a favourite symbol among Romantic writers and musicians, who saw the instrument as a metaphor for the soul – stirred into song by unseen forces.

Mary Eliza Herbert’s decision to name her 1858 poetry collection The Aeolian Harp invites readers to see the sisters’ verses not just as expressions of personal faith and feeling, but as works shaped by something greater –divine breath, memory, or even grief moving gently through their lives.

References:

Gerson, Carole. 2010. Canadian Women in Print 1750 – 1918. Wilfred Laurier University Press.

Davies, Gwendolyn, “HERBERT, SARAH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003, https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/herbert_sarah_7E.html

Harvey, Daniel Cobb. (1987). Newspapers of Nova Scotia, 1840 – 1867. It was first printed in the Canadian Historical Review volume 26 (Sept. 1945) pp-279-30I. University of Toronto Press

Decarie, G. (2020). Temperance Movement in Canada. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/temperance-movement

Images

Newspapers: All images courtesy of the Nova Scotia Archives.

Aeolian Harp: The Met. Public domain. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/502221