Old Spookses' Pass

Isabella Valancy Crawford was born in Dublin, Ireland on Christmas Day, 1846. The family emigrated to Canada when she was ten years of age. Her father applied for a licence to practice medicine and then began worked in Paisley, Canada West. But life was harder than expected. Disease took the lives of many of the children and they often lived in semi-poverty. A financial scandal involving her father caused the family to leave Paisley in 1861. By chance Richard Strickland invited the Crawfords to