Joanna Belfrage Picken

Joanna Belfrage Picken (8 May 1798 – 25 March 1859) was known as the "Poet of Paisley".

Joanna Belfrage Picken
Born8 May 1798
Edinburgh
Died25 March 1859
Montreal
NationalityBritish
Other namespoems

"A queer kind o' lott'ry is marriage—
Ye never ken what ye may draw,
Ye may get a braw hoose an' a carriage,
Or maybe get nae hoose ava.
I say na 'tis best to be single,
But ae thing's to me unco clear:
Far better sit lane by the ingle
Than thole what some wives hae to bear."

Joanna Belfrage Picken1876[1]

Life

Picken was born in Edinburgh in 1798. Her father was Ebenezer Picken who was a minor poet.[2] She and her sister established a boarding school in Musselburgh, but their attempt was a failure, possibly due to uncomplimentary poems that Picken published about local figures. Picken wrote verses for the Glasgow Courier and other newspapers.[3]

She left for Canada in 1842 with other family members where she became a music teacher, writing poetry under the name "Alpha". She died of apoplexy in Montreal on 25 March 1859 and is buried in the Mount Royal Cemetery there.[3]

References
  1. Quoted in Marilyn Malina, "Picken, Joanna Belfrage [pseud. Alpha] (1798–1859)", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2018. (subscription required)
  2. "Picken, Ebenezer" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  3. Marilyn Malina, "Picken, Joanna Belfrage [pseud. Alpha] (1798–1859)", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 4 April 2018. (subscription required)
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