Minnie Bell Sharp

Minnie Bell Sharp Adney ( born January 12, 1865 in Woodstock, New Brunswick, † April 11, 1937 in Woodstock, New Brunswick) was a Canadian singer and music teacher.

She was the daughter of Canadian fruit breeder and nursery owner Francis Peabody Sharp ( born September 3, 1823 in Northampton, Carleton County, New Brunswick, † December 12, 1903 in Woodstock ) and his wife Maria Shaw ( * May 12, 1830; † 29 March 1904 ). The couple had 7 more children of whom but the three eldest died before Minnie Bell's birth.

Minnie Bell Sharp grew up in Woodstock and in 1883 went to New York City where she received a vocal and piano training. She studied piano at the German piano teacher Dr. William Mason and Gonzalo Nunez and singing with Ange Albert Pattou and Frank Tubbs. In New York, she lived in bording House of Ruth Shaw, the mother of her future husband Edwin Tappan Adney. After training, she taught as a music teacher in New York, and later in Fredericton and Woodstock. In 1893 she founded the Victoria Conservatory of Music in Victoria, British Columbia, which she kept until 1900.

Minnie Bell Sharp was a confident, eccentric and stubborn woman. Because they are not paid overdue school fees, she spent 17 days in prison in 1897. Then she led a lawsuit against this arrest, which she won. The judgment was confirmed to her that she had been arrested unjustly.

In 1899 she married Edwin Tappan Adney. Adney was a journalist and ethologist. The couple had a son in 1902, Francis Glenn Adney ( born July 9, 1902) in Woodstock, New Brunswick. However, he was like his mother became a musician, as a jazz pianist, only low levels of awareness in the United States.

Upon her return to her hometown of Woodstock, she founded the Woodstock School of Music, which she headed for nearly 20 years.

1919 Minnie Bell Sharp ran as a candidate of the Conservatives for the District of Victoria - Carleton in the federal election. Women were at this time vote but not run. Your name did not appear on the ballot, because their application for nomination disappeared mysteriously manner. Minnie Bell Sharp suspected that their lawyers had been bribed and made the application disappear.

In the years 1921 and 1925, she ran again after women were admitted from 1924 to candidacy. However, they received only 84 votes.

Minnie Bell Sharp died on April 11, 1937 in Woodstock, and is buried there at the Upper Woodstock Cemetery.