Mary Mellish


Mary Mellish, later Mary Mellish Archibald, was an educator from Prince Edward Island, best known for her long association with women's education at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick.

Early life

Mary Mellish was born in Pownal, Prince Edward Island, the daughter of James Lewis Mellish and Margaret Sophia Murray. She trained as a teacher at the normal school in Charlottetown. She earned her teaching licence in 1864. She pursued further studies at Mount Allison Wesleyan College in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Career

Mellish served as teacher and senior female staff member of the female academy at Mount Allison Wesleyan College from 1871 to 1873. She left the classroom to marry, but returned to teaching when she became a widow and sole support of her young son. She resumed her place on the faculty at Mount Allison in 1885, and stayed at Sackville for sixteen years, working with principal Byron Crane Borden to improve the school into a ladies' college.
Beyond her school leadership work, Mellish was active in temperance work and other Methodist Church activities.

Personal life and legacy

Mary Mellish married fellow educator Abram Newcomb Archibald in 1874. They had a son, Raymond Clare Archibald, who became a noted mathematician and historian of mathematics. Abram Archibald died from typhoid in 1883. Mary Mellish Archibald died from pneumonia in January 1901 in New York City, a few weeks before her 52nd birthday.
The Mary Mellish Archibald Library of Folklore at Mount Allison University was begun by her son in 1905, as a memorial gift to the school.