• Was Anne a Real Girl? •

Maud was often asked if Anne was real, or if any of the other characters in Anne of Green Gables were real. Although Anne was not based on a real person, Maud got the idea for the story from something which happened right in Cavendish.

In 1892, advertisements in P.E.I. newspapers sought adoptive parents for orphans from England. Pierce and Rachel Macneill, relatives of Maud who lived on a nearby farm in Cavendish, decided to adopt a boy, as did another couple, John and Annie Clark. Shortly thereafter, both couples received word from Halifax that their boys would be arriving at the Hunter River train station on September 22, 1892. Pierce and John drove to the train station to pick up the boys (who they expected would be sturdy fellows between ten to twelve years of age, and ready to help on the farm). Instead, two tiny children were deposited on the platform--a five-year-old boy, clutching his three-year-old sister's hand. Tags on their clothing indicated the boy was to go to the Clarks and the girl to the Macneills.

Pierce Macneill arrived home with a sobbing three-year-old girl, instead of the sturdy boy he'd expected. His wife Rachael was just as perplexed by the situation when the buggy pulled into the drive at the farm. The Macneills soothed the toddler and put her to bed, with the intention of finding out the next day how such a mistake had occurred. They believed that somehow they'd received a girl meant for another couple; the boy they'd requested had probably been sent to the wrong place as well.

Bibliography/Reference: McCabe, Kevin and Alexandra Heilbron. The Lucy Maud Montgomery Album. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry and Whiteside Limited, 1999.

Last updated: December 25, 2005
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