Margaret Marshall Saunders (1861-1947) was born in Milton, Nova Scotia. Her family moved to Berwick, Nova Scotia, when her father, Edward Manning Saunders, became a Baptist Minister. In 1867, they moved to Halifax. Her father taught “Maggie” Latin before she had turned six years old. At 15, she was sent to Edinburgh and attended Miss Deuchar’s School (1876) where she was taught conversational German and French as well as history and English literature. Between the ages of 17 and 24, she lived at home, taught school, helped with housework, and supported her mother in causes, such as the campaign to prevent baby-farming in Halifax. In the Winter of 1889-1890, she took classes at Dalhousie University in order to upgrade her qualifications as teacher and in 1895-1897, she read and wrote at Boston University. Saunders was awarded an honourary degree from Acadia University in 1911. She was awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1934. Margaret Marshall Saunders died in Toronto in 1947, where she had lived since 1914.
In 1882, she began writing at the encouragement of Dr. Theodore Rand. In 1886, her first work, called “A Gag of Blessed Memory”, was published in Frank Leslie’s Magazine. “My Spanish Sailor”, her first novelette, was well received by The Scotsman. Her novelette was published in 1889, the publishers decided to change her name to Marshall Saunders, to defeminise Maggie. “Beautiful Joe” published in 1894 by American Baptist Publication Society and was the first Canadian book to become World’s Bestseller as well as the first Canadian book to sell over one million copies and to achieve multiple translations.