Mrs. J. J. Colter

Hattie E. Colter, who also published as Mrs. J. J. Colter, was one of Canada’s early women writers. Reference sources identify her as Hattie E. Berry Colter and connect her with a body of fiction and religious reading published in the late 1800s.

According to author and library records, she was born in New Brunswick in 1844 and married Methodist minister John H. Colter after completing her college studies. She is described as having devoted much of her life to writing Sunday school books, and surviving catalogs show her active under both her married style and her personal name.

Her known works include Medoline Selwyn's Work, A Gentle Benefactress, and In the Heart of the Hills, or, The Little Preacher of the Pacific Slope. These titles suggest the kind of fiction she became known for: earnest, character-centered stories with a strong moral and religious thread.