Jesse Edgar Middleton

Middleton was born in Pilkington, Ontario, the son of Margaret Agar and Rev. Eli Middleton, a Methodist minister. He attended Dutton High School and Strathroy Collegiate. He then taught school for three years, and was a proofreader in Cleveland, Ohio for three years. In 1899 he married Bessie A. Jackson and together they raised one son. They moved to Toronto in the early 1900s.^[1]

For most of his career, he worked as a journalist and as a special writer for Toronto newspapers. He became a music critic for the Mail and Empire, and in 1904 joined The News, where he wrote a column, "On the Side."^[2] He led the choir at Centennial Methodist Church, and sang in Toronto's Mendelssohn Choir. In 1926 he composed the English lyrics to a traditional Canadian Christmas hymn, the Huron Carol.^[3]

Aside from one volume of poetry and two novels, his main writing contribution was a lengthy historical account of Toronto and its local environs, The Municipality of Toronto (3 volumes). He also wrote a history of the province, The Province of Ontario: a History (4 volumes).^[4]

He died in Toronto in 1960 and was buried in Fort Macleod, Alberta.^[4]

• Sea Dogs and Men at Arms: A Canadian Book of Songs (1918)
• Huron Carol: The First Canadian Christmas Carol (1927)
• Province of Ontario: A History 1615 to 1927 (1927) with Fred Landon
• The Romance of Ontario (1931)
• Green Plush (1932)
• Toronto's 100 Years (1934)
• National Encyclopedia of Canadian Biography (1935) [co-edited]
• The Clever Ones (1936)
• William Tyrell of Weston (1937) [with Edith Morrison]
• Canadian Landscape (1944) [with F. H. Brigden]
• Green Fields Afar (1947) [with Clara Middleton]^[5]