Catharine McGill Crooks

Catharine (Kate) McGill Crooks Smart or Kate Crooks (February 13, 1833 – March 23, 1871) was a botanist and member of the Botanical Society of Canada. Her pressed botanical specimens were displayed in London, England at the International Exhibition of 1862, and her botanical records were cited in the Catalogue of Canadian Plants; published as part of the Geological Survey of Canada. She was a member of the Crooks family, a prominent family of merchants, industrialists, civil servants, politicians, and landowners in the nineteenth-century British colony of Upper Canada.

Early life Kate Crooks was born on February 13, 1833, in Newark, Upper Canada (now Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario). Her father, John Crooks, was born in Greenock, Scotland, and emigrated to Canada in the early 1800s. To support their family, Kate Crooks' older sisters founded a girls' school in the family home.

Work Kate Crooks joined the Botanical Society of Canada in 1861. The Botanical Society of Canada was founded at Queen's College (now Queen's University) in Kingston, Canada West (now Kingston, Ontario). At this time, Kate contributed to a flora of Hamilton, Ontario, published by her brother-in-law Alexander Logie. Along with botanist John Macoun, she was a co-author on Returns of the periodical phenomena of vegetation during the season 1861. Her own paper, Remarks on the species of oak, their history, habits and uses was presented at the Botanical Society of Canada's seventh meeting, on June 14, 1861. Crooks' botanical specimens of native Canadian plants were exhibited in London at the International Exhibition of 1862. She received an honourable mention for these works, which were shown alongside examples of Canadian forestry, fisheries, and agricultural products. In 1806, Francis Crooks’ daughter, Jane Crooks, was the first woman granted membership to the Niagara-on-the-Lake Public Library.

Crooks' collaborator, Alexander Logie, was a judge of Wentworth county. He married Kate Crooks' sister, Mary Ritchie Crooks.

Marriage and children

In July 1865, Kate married William Lynn Smart, a barrister. Adam Crooks, then a Liberal cabinet member in the provincial legislature, successfully put forward the Married Women’s Real Estate Act (1873), under which married women could hold and dispose of property in their own right. The Act passed into law in Ontario on March 29, 1873; two years after his cousin's death. In a 1997 book, Dr. Lori Chambers observed that the Act was a "remedial measure intended for women's protection, not their emancipation." However, the Act "allowed some women scope to participate actively in the burgeoning economy of the province." Prior to the Act's passage into law, The Toronto Mail warned of the "dangers" posed by the Act; adding, "We have now only to hope that the good sense of the married women of Ontario will neutralize the Quixotic zeal of Mr. Crooks." This specimen, Sabatia angularis (L.) Pursh, was collected in Hamilton, Ontario in July 1865. It is the only known collection of this species in Ontario, as the plant is now considered extirpated in the region. It is not known if any other specimens prepared by Kate Crooks have survived the 150 years since her death.

Crooks' botanical records have been cited in the following publications:

Argus, George W, and David J. White. Atlas of the Rare Vascular Plants of Ontario =: Atlas Des Plantes Vasculaires Rares De L'ontario. Ottawa, Ont: Botany Division, National Museum of Natural Sciences, 1982. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.51429 Day, David F. The Plants of Buffalo and Its Vicinity. Baker, Jones & Co., 1882. Dickson, J. M., and A. Alexander. “Flora of Hamilton District.” Journal and Proceedings of the Hamilton Association, vols. 10-15, 1894, pp. 95–127. Gibson, John, and James M. Macoun. “Monograph of the Canadian Caryophyllaceae, as Represented within the Valley of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes by J. Gibson and J. Macoun.” 1890, pp. 1–19., doi:10.5962/bhl.title.40970. Macoun, James M. Catalogue of Canadian Plants. Vol. 1, Dawson Brothers, 1883. Macoun, James M. “Synopsis of the Flora of the Valley of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes: With Descriptions of the Rarer Plants.” The Canadian Journal, vol. 15, no. 1, Apr. 1876, pp. 51–66.