Jesse Edgar Middleton

Middleton was born in Pilkington, Ontario, the son of Margaret Agar and Rev. Eli Middleton, a Methodist minister. He attended Dutton High School and Strathroy Collegiate. He then taught school for three years, and was a proofreader in Cleveland, Ohio for three years. In 1899 he married Bessie A. Jackson and together they raised one son. They moved to Toronto in the early 1900s.[1]

For most of his career, he worked as a journalist and as a special writer for Toronto newspapers. He became a music critic for the Mail and Empire, and in 1904 joined The News, where he wrote a column, "On the Side." [2] He led the choir at Centennial Methodist Church, and sang in Toronto's Mendelssohn Choir. In 1926 he composed the English lyrics to a traditional Canadian Christmas hymn, the Huron Carol.[3]

Aside from one volume of poetry and two novels, his main writing contribution was a lengthy historical account of Toronto and its local environs, The Municipality of Toronto (3 volumes). He also wrote a history of the province, The Province of Ontario: a History (4 volumes).[4]

He died in Toronto in 1960 and was buried in Fort Macleod, Alberta.[4]

• Sea Dogs And Men At Arms, (1918)
• Huron Carol: The First Canadian Christmas Carol, (1927)
• Province of Ontario: A History 1615 to 1927 (1927) with Fred Landon
• The Romance Of Ontario, (1931)
• Green Plush, (1932)
• Toronto's 100 Years (1934)
• National Encyclopedia Of Canadian Biography [co-edited], (1935)
• The Clever Ones, (1936)
• William Tyrell Of Weston, (1937) [with Edith Morrison]
• Canadian Landscape, (1944) [with F. H. Brigden]
• Green Fields Afar, (1947) [with Clara Middleton][5]